Stewardship Grant from City
We would like to present another post written by one of our students, Jai Singh, to discuss the motivation behind applying for the Environmental Stewardship grant and to highlight the key experiences from our students, Jai Singh and Kithara Kekulthotuwage. They recently accepted the Environmental Stewardship grant for St. Edmund’s from the District of North Vancouver. Read more about the grant and their experience below. They recently accepted a grant from North Shore Community Foundation to help fund the equipment for a Environmental Stewardship program at St. Edmund’s.
A month ago, our Parish Education Committee Treasurer, Marta Brisco, submitted a grant application for the Environmental Stewardship project. This grant is valued at $1,500 for the purpose of gardening and funding for cleaning supplies for us students to improve the neighbourhood. This is a great opportunity to raise awareness in our students, and to teach them the value of community involvement.
The idea of applying for the Environmental Stewardship grant was brought up by former Principal, Diana Silva. She was the one who planned a student-led cleanup of the neighbourhood during Earth Day. Marta Brisco expanded on this notion when she submitted the grant proposal to the North Shore Community Foundation:
“St. Edmund’s Elementary would like to establish a lending library of environmental cleanup/litter collection equipment. Students would use this equipment to collect litter in the area surrounding the school, and even be encouraged to sign out the equipment for their own clean up projects in local parks. The objective of this project is to foster a sense of environmental responsibility and empowerment in the students.”
On November 30th, student council representatives Jai Singh and Kithara Kekulthotuwage joined Mr. Field at the North Vancouver District City Hall to receive the grant. Jai and Kithara found the grant presentations to be really inspiring, since they were able to see the other grant recipients and their presentations. Jai illustrated his story here:
“Mr. Field, Kithara and I went to the North Vancouver District City Hall to receive the Environmental Stewardship grant for our school. I remember it was a cold afternoon, but the sun was shining bright it was beautiful. When we got out of Mr. Field’s car and grabbed our nametags, we walked into City Hall into a room with desks formed in a semicircle. I saw all the names of all district board, companies sponsored by the district and the other grant recipients. It was interesting to hear the speeches of other recipients, to hear their purpose and how they intend on using the grant with their organizations to positively benefit the community. After the presentations were completed, we had some refreshments and we had the opportunity to meet district mayor, Richard Walton, as well as city mayor, Darrell Mussatto. Both mayors were very friendly and congratulated us on our grant. Also, we got to meet some of the other grant recipients and enjoy eating some delicious cake! It was an eventful and memorable afternoon.”
Thank you for reading our latest post. We would like to thank Jai for his wonderful insights. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram by clicking on the links below.